1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pattern generation method and apparatus which can be applied to an output device capable of expressing gradation.
2. Related Background Art
When a gray scale font which can express gradation is assumed, it can be stored in a character generator in a bit map format, i.e., in a format in which multi-value data is added to one dot.
However, when font data is stored in the bit map format, the following problems are posed:
(1) A font cannot be enlarged or reduced to an arbitrary size.
(2) Since multi-value data is stored in the bit map format, data size is increased, and a memory having a large capacity is required for storing fonts.